The Romanian Ministry of Education has this week (6 September) announced the next step of the higher education reforms, which have been outlined in a higher education bill passed earlier this year. Around 100 universities (public and private) have now been grouped into three major categories of institutions: research intensive; teaching and research oriented; and mainly teaching institutions, in a move designed to diversify the country’s HE system.

The law requires these reforms and particularly the classification exercise to be supported by an external body. At the request of the Romanian Minister of Education, EUA agreed to act as this external body and established a high-level international expert group to support the reform process.

The task of the expert group has been to provide expert advice and follow-up on the methodology for this differentiation exercise, on the development of relevant indicators, and on the evaluation of the documentation received from universities. In the initial phase universities were asked to evaluate, themselves, to which of the three categories – mentioned in the law - they belong, and to provide or confirm the relevant data, much of which has already been collected by the Romanian Quality Agency (ARACIS), and the Romanian Funding and Research Councils.

Based on the data provided by Romanian universities, on a detailed analysis of the Romanian higher education system as well as on international good practice, EUA was able to certify the establishment of the three major categories of institutions, along with the respective lists of universities belonging to each of the categories, as foreseen by the law.

EUA’s agreement with the Romanian Ministry will enable the Association to support and work with Romanian universities in the crucial follow-up phase (of the classification) focused on improving quality and institutional performance.